Is it Time to Set Your OOO?

Staycation or trip to Iqaluit, many of us will be taking some time away from our email soon. Will you?

Before you go, it is a good idea to set your automatic Out of Office message OOO.

For some, setting the OOO message, or Out of Office message on their email is almost automatic itself. Some even have one set all year round, automatically replying to everyone who sends them a message with information on reply times and business hours.

For those of you who would like a refresher on just how to get this message set up I offer you some information that may be helpful. As always I will share a simplistic explanation. It can get way more complicated if we want it to.

    The Basics of an Out of Office Message

To start, the goal with the OOO message is to let your people know that you are away and are not able to respond as quickly as you normally do. This message does not stop email from coming into your inbox. It just automatically sends a message to the people who email you.

For a better understanding of how the OOO message works let’s look at the 2 types of email systems.

    Cloud Based Versus Device Based Email

All email is technically cloud based so we are talking about how you access your account. If you check your email using a browser (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox) then you are using a cloud-based email system. Gmail.com or Outlook.com or Yahoo.com or Comcast.net are all examples of cloud-based systems.

You can also access these email accounts using device-based software like Outlook 365 or MAC Mail these programs are loaded onto your computer and accesses your email for you.

If your out of office message is set up on your cloud-based email then anytime someone sends you a message the email server will know right away and send out the automatic message you set up.

If your out of office message is set up on your device-based email program then the program will need to tell the email server what to do when messages come in. Sometimes the program and send the instructions to the server and they will live there. This happens with Exchange servers and iCloud. But it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the instructions don’t live on the server and the automatic reply will only be sent when you access your email from your program. (This is a rather lame holdover from before we had more reliable internet access). Just be sure to test your message once you set it up to see how it works for your people.

    Setting up your OOO message from your cloud-based email accounts

To set your message, the easiest way is to go online to your webmail portal. Like Gmail.com, Outlook.com, Comcast.net, Bluehost.com, GoDaddy.com and so on. If you have a custom email account like yourname@yoursite.com and you don’t have it connected with Gmail.com or Outlook.com then you may need to visit the website where your email is hosted, like Bluehost or GoDaddy. Once you log on you will head to the email settings and look for the OOO option. It can be named a variety of things:

  • Vacation responder
  • Out of office message
  • Automatic reply
  • Away message
  • Autoresponse

    Instructions for Gmail and Outlook

For those of you who use Gmail and Outlook, I have created some handy instructions for you.
Those of you with other systems take a look at the instructions and you should be able to get a good idea of what you are looking for.

How to set your OOO message in Gmail.com

  1. Go to Settings (Gear Symbol in the upper right)
  2. Choose Settings
  3. From the “General” Tab scroll to the bottom. (Settings usually defaults to the “general” tab)

There you will find the Vacation Responder settings. You can choose on or off. The dates you need it for and what you want to say in the subject line and the note. You can also choose to have the message go only to the people in your contact list.

How to set your OOO message in Outlook.com

  1. Go to Settings (Gear Symbol in the upper right)
  2. Choose Options
  3. From the “Mail” Section choose “Automatic Replies”
  4. Choose “Send automatic replies” to make the options appear.
  5. Set your time
  6. Choose who will receive your automatic message.
  7. Type out your message
  8. Hit “Save”

If you are using a program like Outlook 365 or MAC Mail and would like help setting up your out of office message we can talk about it in private if you would like. I don’t have instructions outlined for those yet.

Be aware. Your emails will still come to your inbox for you to read and respond to when you want to. This just sets up an outgoing message to your people so they know what is going on.

    Nicole Lux-Ritchie - Founder of Luxcentric
    Nicole's mission is to help feminine professionals gain the technical
    skills they need to grow their business and focus on their missions.
    The focus of Luxcentric is on training practical strategies in the area of the core technologies.
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For those of you who find this information useful and would like to contribute to the cause (and keep it ad free)...

Would you like help setting up an Out of Office message (OOO). Let’s do this together and make sure it gets done right.

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